I've bought a few analog synths over the past months, but I feel like I'm still looking for a very flexible genuinly vintage sounding synth that could be so inspiring and musical that I could start to reduce my setup as much as possible. I currently own : Micromoog, SEM, JX-3P, SH-101, SH-1000, Minikorg 700, Microwave XT, Korg Z1, and I love all these synths.... but I can't help but feeling that it's way too much for just two hands.

Modcan Pros : Amazing sound, quality and musicality.Cons : Seems to be labelled bigger is better so it can get very, very costy.

Serge AnimooPros : I really like the idea of an optimal architecture that seems to be geater than the sum of its part and that forces you to think differently.Cons : From what I heard, I fear that it might be hard to escape from piercing sounds and noodlings that are not necessarily musical.

Macbeth X-series modularPro : The online demos are among the best sounding I've heard; vintage sounding, very warm and raw.Con : Might not be as flexible as a serge/modcan for a 4k setup.

Bah, Internet rumours. These envs are anything but lazy, if you cannot get them to click and pop and whatnot it's definitely not the synth's fault. I guess people claiming this don't even know about changing the env slopes, let alone the engine optimizer...

As far as your original question, I guess it would be a good idea if you decided what you want first - mono vs. poly, fixed vs. modular, etc. All the synths you listed sound great and must be huge fun...

Bah, Internet rumours. These envs are anything but lazy, if you cannot get them to click and pop and whatnot it's definitely not the synth's fault. I guess people claiming this don't even know about changing the env slopes, let alone the engine optimizer...

As far as your original question, I guess it would be a good idea if you decided what you want first - mono vs. poly, fixed vs. modular, etc. All the synths you listed sound great and must be huge fun...

I think there was many versions of the A6 regarding th ENV. A friend of mine who happens to be a very talented keyboardist has been very deceived by this aspect. But some others don't care much.

You are right. Maybe I should get more specific. I'm thinking about a mix of elements.

Maybe Macbeth oscillators + Modcan filters/processors + Serge logics

But I have no experience in building a modular setup. And maybe I'm on the wrong forum for these specific questions...

Bah, Internet rumours. These envs are anything but lazy, if you cannot get them to click and pop and whatnot it's definitely not the synth's fault. I guess people claiming this don't even know about changing the env slopes, let alone the engine optimizer...

As far as your original question, I guess it would be a good idea if you decided what you want first - mono vs. poly, fixed vs. modular, etc. All the synths you listed sound great and must be huge fun...

I think there was many versions of the A6 regarding th ENV. A friend of mine who happens to be a very talented keyboardist has been very deceived by this aspect. But some others don't care much.

Well, yeah, you need the latest software... But that's not a problem at all. There are no different 'versions' regarding the envs, there's only the latest software update - they are 100% digital. Also, being a good keyboardist does not necessarily correlate with being a good synth programmer...

Scories wrote:You are right. Maybe I should get more specific. I'm thinking about a mix of elements.

If you can find a 2600 for $4000 go for that. this is highly unlikely but still within the realm of possibilities.

If you can find one an for cheap the Octave Cat will give you a flexible Arp like sound.

If I were you for 4k I would go for an Octave Cat and Jupiter 6 and spend whatever is left on a nice effect unit, maybe a space echo or an eventide or something. If you can't find a Cat go for a Pro-One. Arp odyssey is another good choice.

I found the Sh-5 to be a little underwhelming, I wouldn't pay over say $2200 for one. It's a nice synth but lacks a bit in that in-your-face extremeness that many of us associate with the 70's analog sound.

4k doesn't go all that far in modular.. the companies you're interested in are on the expensive side of an already expensive product. I'm sure you could put together a decent little modcan system for that much though.

Kind of hard to know what you want, or what to recommend when you've already got some great synths and are debating between vintage monos, modulars and modern analog polys...

Anyway, you look like you've already got a plethora of vintage monos, so maybe ditch a few of them and go modular? If you're still leaning towards more vintage, the CS-30 can hardly be described as "tame". It's basically a CS-15 on steroids and can get pretty gnarly with both cross-mod and ring-mod, as well as an audio-rate LFO. The SH-5 is also pretty awesome, but the main filter (not the band-pass) is pretty weak imho.

Your keyboardist buddie should really dive into the A6 if he actually knows how to program, but doesn't like the envs (if that's the one you could buy, don't tell him obviously); or, if he hasn't, he should install the latest firmware (IIRC the 1.40.13 beta is the latest - unofficial - update that improves the envs). The learning curve is steep on this synth, but it's well worth it.